First, a recap. Our last blog was a picture of our house, so let's start there. About a year ago, we moved from the Bay Area (Sunnyvale) to Modesto and bought a house (we'll do a blog about this). Around that same time, Bryan decided to leave Deloitte and do real estate full time (this could be a whole blog if its own...but probably not something everyone wants to sit and read). It was really hard to leave all our friends and our first "real job," but it was time for a change of pace and the opportunity presented itself...so we jumped.
In the past year, we have been extremely busy (hence the lack of blogging), but also extrememly blessed. Bryan got his real estate brokers license and is splitting time between running his own "traditional" real estate company and running a real estate investing business. A few weeks after moving here, Bryan was called into the Elders Quorum Presidency...which he was just released from a couple of weeks ago...to be called a week later as Scoutmaster and deacons quorum adviser. Melissa is teaching piano lessons 2 afternoons a week (Bryan has the flexibility to watch the kids while she teaches) and watches our nephew Tyler on weekday mornings. Melissa is also the ward choir pianist, wolf cub scout leader, and was just called as the primary chorister...all the while keeping up with 2 extremely active and growing boys. Our boys are growing fast and are tons of fun. They keep us busy, laughing, and humble on a daily basis.
That's the very condensed version of what we've been up to. I'm not sure things have turned out 100% like we envisioned a year ago, but they never do (which is part of the fun, right?). The biggest deciding factor in us moving was that we needed more time to spend with each other and with our extended family...we have definately had that and it has been a blast. We have made lots of great friends and have had many opportunities to serve others. Like we said, we have been very blessed.
Now to some pictures:
First, here are the boys last time we blogged:
Family Pictures at Thanksgiving:
Now:
